I love recreating Pinterest activities with all three of my kids (even my very patient teenage boy—and my very, very patient husband!). There are so many great faith-related pins… and hosting fun theme birthday parties is totally in my wheelhouse. All those ideas are just waiting to be discovered, and organized!

But Pinterest is getting a bad rap.

Frankly, it can be a time waster. And all of that great stuff tempts us into pinning so much that we can’t find any one thing later. Then we become overwhelmed by all the things we’re not doing..and start comparing ourselves to others…and we begin to feel inadequate. Pinterest Panic!

But these things aren’t Pinterest’s fault. Our generation of gals are like test subjects…we don’t necessarily know how to handle the vast amounts of information (or in this case, potential fun) available to us. Pinterest isn’t inherently bad, but we may be using it poorly.

Pinterest is a tremendous source of online ideas and the perfect way to organize them—if you do it in a way that works for you.

Here’s how to do Pinterest practically and really get the most out of it:

Do you waste time on Pinterest? Set aside time to enjoy your browsing rather than sneaking glimpses here and there when you really should be doing something else. Settle in with a cup of tea and begin by searching for a specific topic that’s been on your mind… for a predetermined amount of time. Set a timer if you have to!

Do you feel inadequate when you see what other gals are doing? Go into it knowing that you don’t have to do all of these things, or even a small fraction of them, in order to be a fantastic home builder! Re-read Galatians 6:4 and decide not to compare yourself to anyone else. God blessed you to be His unique daughter, so look for pins that play to your strengths, not anyone else.

Do you lose your pinned ideas? Create very specific boards so you can find exactly what you want when you want it. Don’t make a “Summer” board with 2000+ pins, make separate boards for topics like “Outside Play,” “Rainy Day Activities,” “Camping,” “Day Trips,” “Vacation Ideas,” and “Pool Fun.”

Do you overwhelm yourself with too many ideas? Only pin things you actually plan to do. This bears repeating: ask yourself, Am I going to do this? …and if you’re not, it’s OK, just don’t pin it! If you have a hard time following this rule, create a board expressly for those super cool things you’ll probably never look at again. I have board called, “Sure, I Might Do That Someday” for awesome things I don’t think I’ll get to—but every other board I have is super utilitarian. And that’s Pinterest at its best: actually useful.

Pinterest is an organizing tool that can work for you. You can turn to your practical Pinterest boards when you’re having a rough morning, or when a play date is going south and needs a little structure, or when you just want to do something different. Use Pinterest to find and organize ideas that are uniquely you!

Take the Challenge:

Go through your Pinterest boards. Divide the boards. Delete the pins. (Or, if you’re like one lady I talked to about this—20,000+ pins on five boards!—just start over.) And have fun doing it!

Please share this post with overwhelmed women everywhere! Here’s a pin-friendly image (how’s that for ironic?… but they’re the gals who may really need to see this!):